The Beyonder is floating in the far reaches of space contemplating destroying the entire multiverse when he is attacked by aliens whom he promptly blinks out of existence; Sensing that he is being watched by Mephisto, the Beyonder appears in his realm and prepares to destroy it; The Beyonder makes a deal with the devil--he agrees to forestall destroying the cosmos for twenty-four hours if a hero of his choosing can sustain his life's purpose in the face of overwhelming adversity; The Beyonder chooses Spider-Man as his target and frees the demon Zarathos to torment him; Spidey overhears plans for the assassination of the Kingpin and contemplates letting the bad guy get whacked; Resolved to rescue his enemy, Spidey is hampered in his quest by dead friends and foes from the past who accuse him of being a failure; Even his parents and Uncle Ben get in on the act as Spidey is beaten down and begins to give in to despair; The source of the illusions, Zarathos, confronts Spider-Man directly and tries to convince him to let the Kingpin be killed; Spidey finds the strength to fight back and ends up saving the Kingpin from a sniper; Even though he feels like his effort was a waste, little does Peter know that he has just saved the entire multiverse for at least one more day.